


My Master Attendant is Interesting

by Nut_Boi



Category: Food Fantasy
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-06
Updated: 2018-08-06
Packaged: 2019-06-22 18:34:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15588147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nut_Boi/pseuds/Nut_Boi
Summary: A Master Attendant tries to escape his past by leaving the guild, and making his own bar-restaurant from scratch. It has been going well for him, as he slowly but surely come to terms with his demons. However, one day, his past comes to haunt him in a dream, and forces him to face it once again. This time: literally.A snow haired girl with an equally cold personality, the rising of the Fallen Angels and the Academy's supposed involvement, it seems like things are taking a turn for his peaceful life.





	My Master Attendant is Interesting

**Master Attendant - Archer**

* * *

 

There was a toss, and a turn, as everything came to a _stop._ The cracking of the fires echoed, and the surroundings dimmed from the fiery inferno. Tears passed down the eyes, as smoke penetrated through the nose. An inhale causes one pain, and a movement causes another. One male stood amidst the chaos, his skin dark from working under the watchful eyes of the sun gifted by the gods. His white hair tied back before, but the binding snapped that caused strands of his hair to slowly cascade downwards like water from the top of a fall. His blue eyes held uncertainty, and his mouth pressed together on a firm frown. He donned a standard chef's outfit with the white over alls, and an apron but all were stained with sweat. His clothes clung to him like an estranged lover,  and certainly looked like a person who came from a recent lover's embrace. Oh, if only the scene looked remarkably different. He held a kitchen knife on his hands, one that glowed red from power but wavered. Behind him were five humanoids, all of which look completely human. Though, anyone who stayed with them long enough knew the difference. Each one of them held powers that not even humans could hold imaginable. They were born from within the very spirits of foods, purified ones that stood the test of time. They held the torch that led hope in humanity in the dark times: the Food Souls. Yet, each one of them lacked the determination the male held. Their eyes filled with fear, and their lips quivered from the sight before them. Their every step shook them as if they were made of sticks and clothes. One small movement was enough to set them on edge, though who wouldn't be in such a dangerous location? It was a village far from where they came from, a village they are required to visit as a mission from the Skeleton Guild. Olivia would've came with them, but was currently busy with her own mission somewhere far from their headquarters.

"This... This is horrible," a voice croaked out from one of the Food Souls. Her light brown nearing blonde hair flickered from the breeze, and sweat dripped down her face and stuck to her clothes from the heat the fire emitted. Her fan hadn't been enough to keep her cool, but even then, it seemed like the fan was singed from the mere heat the place was contained in. The other Food Souls hadn't the energy to speak, and could only nod. Their gazes continued to focus with the chaos the Fallen Angels had managed to bring into this small desolate village far from the kingdom. Even the one who was renown for his unyielding bravery and enthusiasm had a fearful look on his face. The male felt bad as he looked at his Food Souls. They were ones who were only used to his restaurant operations, and he had never once brought them out on a serious and dangerous mission like this. He loved them like they were his own children, as were the case for some of the Master Attendants he had met. Olivia was one such person to Tiramisu, though she would never admit it loudly. Perhaps a little influence from alcohol would suffice to get her to admit it, but that was bad taste. It had simply been unfortunate that this was a mission that was needed to respond to A.S.A.P., and it just so happened that he was the only one available at the time. He knew the other Master Attendants were on their way, so he and his Food Souls didn't need to stay long. He hoped that was the case, but he was so wrong. It all had been a blur to him with the events that transpired next. A tentacle erupted from one of the sides of the village, and immediately found its grasp on the smallest member of the group, who happened to be the one with the fan. The poor girl screamed, and no one in the team had enough time to react. Of course, how could they, when they were never a combat group in the first place? The tentacle dragged the Food Soul on the floor, her skin scraping and blood damping and painting the rocky floor. She was flung up into the air, and when everyone looked down where she was headed to fall into, the looks of despair were all equal. The young male tried to stop the event from happening, certainly, as he immediately burst forward with his kitchen knife ready, and his left hand glowing green to heal his Food Soul. The rest, although very delayed, quickly followed after once they realized that one of their own was about to die. While they looked like they'd prefer to run away, they simply couldn't leave one behind. Though, they were simply too late and too slow to stop the act. The curtains had already fallen, and the Food Soul had died a gruesome and painful death.  
  
The girl couldn't even scream, as the giant disgustingly morbid mouth that grew out of the Fallen Angel's head had literally chomped her to pieces. The teeth gnashed against her skin, holes were bored through. The sounds of her bones cracking like a whip hitting air clashed against the cracking of the fires. Her golden essence had easily spewed from the holes, and her limbs were slowly disintegrating into small crystalline particles. Her entrails had sprawled out like maggots from its prey, and the once youthful and high appearance the girl had all gone. The girl looked at the young male, tearfully, and could only mouth her last words to her attendant, words that the young male then would never forget: "I'm sorry for being weak". Once the Fallen Angel had made its way and turned its attention to them, it was only then that the young male attendant had made his decision.  
  
Though it already had been too late.

Archer woke up in cold sweat in the middle of the night, and his left hand was enveloped with a concealed green aura that he hadn’t noticed; the cold breeze from the windows entered the room like a silent lover rendezvousing with his beloved. His clothes wet and damp, and his features cold and tired. The frown from that day had permanently stuck on his face, his tanned skin now reaching the threshold for fair as he had spent most of his days since then under his own house.  His beard was starting to grow back once again after not shaving for three days straight, and his white hair now looking even lighter as the stress from previous times easily caught up to him. He had trimmed his long hair not too long ago, keeping it at a manageable medium length. It was still enough to tie back, but not enough for his bangs to be fully pulled to the back of his head. His blue eyes, now mellow and dark, scanned his surroundings. A heavy sigh escaped his throat, his voice having deepened after the several years had passed since his time with  _them_. He shook his head to clear his thoughts, and struggled to sit up. He wiped the sleep out of his eyes with his hands, subtle movements enough to make one wake up, but also keep the soreness around his eyelids away. He checked the time; it only had been 4:15 in the morning, and he still had plenty of time until his restaurant opened downstairs. He sat there for a while, and contemplated for his next action. He already stocked up his walk-in fridge the day before, and he had enough ingredients for the day to go through his menu. It had been particularly tough to manage the cooking operations at first. It only had been his experience and the fact his bar-restaurant was secluded made it easier. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, the seclusion hadn't changed the fact that his business  _bloomed_ since its first year from creation. His customers came by on a daily, perhaps ritualistic, basis, and often brought new ones with them. It had gotten to the point that he could only open for half the day due to the lack of staff, and ingredients that he could prepare. His early days often left him extremely tired, especially without the help from anyone- person or Food Soul. It only had been a few weeks later that Olivia gave him the idea that he should hire the Stray Food Souls. It was an idea that he was extremely against at first. Don't get him wrong, he had no qualms with Food Souls, but he'd rather avoid them since the...  _fire_. Though, with his business blooming more and more and his human staff tiring from simply the amount of customers, it took him several months of convincing from Olivia to finally relent in to hiring the Food Souls, other than his human staff. 

He recalled a little fondly, and a small sad smile entered his lips. The first week had been painful for Archer. The moment he put up a sign that said he was now hiring Stray Food Souls, exactly five had arrived on his restaurant's doorstep to apply for the job. It hadn't helped that their height ratio were  _intimately_  similar to his previous group. It took him several breaths, and calming down his nerves to at least get them to come in. It had been a painful experience for both him and the Food Souls. When the Food Souls saw how troubled Archer looked, they thought that they might've been simply intruding, and wished to leave with apologetic and hurt features. The moment they stood up after being sat in mere seconds made Archer panic, and told them to wait until he calmed his nerves. Several minutes later, and he finally hired them on the spot, knowing that they were more than a fit in the job. The sheer joy on the faces of the Stray Food Souls brought a smile on his face, but also made it hard for him to meet them in the eyes. They worked with him since that day, but it had been weeks of misunderstanding between Archer and the Food Souls. Archer heard from his human staff that the latter group had once thought that they weren't being entertained and welcomed very kindly by him, which put some tension between them. The tension had apparently been enough for the Food Souls to consider resigning from their jobs, despite the high pay. Archer was shocked since he never knew this detail before, but he could understand their reasons. After all, even though they were making a living, they simply couldn't live working with someone who refused to make a contract with them, and could barely look into their eyes. Archer could remember reflecting and apologizing about it. In their eyes, it had only been a painful thing to be rejected by a very obviously talented "Master Attendant". He recalled back, and remembered how he was able to diffuse the tension between him and his staff of Food Souls. It had only been the supposedly youngest of the group, a girl with white hair and pink eyes, who helped convince the Food Souls to stay with Archer- well, this information was according to his staff. He knew that despite his daily customers, his morning shift had been decidedly slow due to the lack of cooks in the kitchen. This was mostly due to the fact that all chefs were in bigger restaurants. This, in turn, usually instilled impatience within the customers, and made them leave the restaurant. It had been rough mornings before he finally settled in with a schedule. When the girl showed this stress more visibly though as each day passed by, he felt sorry for her, and kindly sat her down to talk and let her cry on his shoulder. Ever since this event, he was surprised to see his Food Souls start working in earnest. They even took up the job of helping Archer cook despite the awkwardness from the first few weeks. Archer also noted that out of the Food Souls in the group, it had been the smaller girl who had the most determination to help him. Her determination beat his human staff even, despite her shy tendencies to stutter and speak softly before the customers. 

Now, he was finally getting along with his Food Souls. While they still wish to be contracted with him, they apparently all agreed to stop pestering him about it, and let him take his own pace. It was something that Archer took extreme relief in. After all, it was still a sensitive subject to him. He left his bed, and took off his clothes. He hung it up to dry for now on his drying rack, and he went in the bathroom to wash himself up. After all, it felt like it was going to be one long day. He decided to take a normal bath for now, and chose to pass on the shower. He had enough time to prepare himself, compared to his normal hectic mornings. It had been pure bliss as he soaked in the bath tub with the warm water after he washed his hair. His body wasn’t muscular anymore, and while he was certainly lean, he wasn’t fit compared to how he used to be. There were still the marks and lines of his muscles on his chest, stomach, and arms, but they were slowly disappearing after not being maintained conditionally over the course of many years. He still kept a proper diet though, so he was able to stop himself from getting fat. Still, he supposed he could add up his stress from his work, and dealing with the annoyances from his previous guild as factors that kept his lean figure. Despite leaving the Skeleton Guild a few months after the _fire_ , the guild still considered him a part of them; which meant having to provide emergency provisions every time he went out to grab ingredients. Olivia was doing what she could to stop them, apparently, and the ones that do reach him were the ones she and Tiramisu had accidentally slipped out with. He couldn’t blame them, of course, he was thankful of them regardless. He knew how difficult that was, since he had been a former member of the guild himself. He sighed contentedly as he let himself down to get soaked in the bath even further.

“This is bliss,” he spoke the first time in that morning, as he’d placed his head against the railings of his tub, and enjoyed his morning dip. Several minutes later, and he finally exited the bath. He dried off with a towel, and went to grab his usual work clothes from the wardrobe. It had been disheartening to see that he had very little out-of-work clothes. He sought to correct that soon. A quick change later, and he sat down before his desk, and checked his stock. Despite checking it already yesterday, it had been his habit to triple-check everything. He looked over his list silently, and pulled out a book from the side that was used to keep track of the expenses and profit. It was basic accounting that he learned from Olivia that kept his business afloat and blooming. Actually it had been those very same skills that had kept him alive until he finally decided to open a restaurant again. So far, he was earning a good 20,000 gold profit that seemed to have been growing ever since he opened his bar-restaurant. He looked at his calendar. It had been approximately a year now since he opened his restaurant. “Not bad, from a restaurant that started from scratch,” he mumbled as he continued to write down. There was a need to replace the furniture, so he would need to spend soon again. He checked the time, and hummed to himself. It was 5:20 now in the morning. The restaurant opens at 7, so he should start preparing. Standing up from the desk, he stretched his limbs, and was about to leave, when he realized something. He blinked at the calendar, and realized that it had been a weekend. It was a day when his bar-restaurant was usually closed so he could rest. He blinked again, and sighed.

“Well… I’m awake now,” He mumbled to no one in particular, and scratched the back of his head. Then, he recalled his nightmare. He stayed silent for a while, a melancholic mood now in the atmosphere. He sighed, and walked down to bar-restaurant. His steps echoed against the wooden stairs, and the rhythmic pattern of the sounds was lulling him to sleep again. Though, he jolted back awake when he realized there wasn’t a step he needed to step down on anymore. He stumbled on his footing for a while, and he groaned over his silly mistake. While bathing had certainly woke him up for a bit, it seemed like his body was protesting that he woke up too early on a weekend. He shook his head, and walked over behind his bar. He took out a shot glass, and placed it against the counter. He might as well get a few drinks or two in, and go either way. He looked at his selection of liquor that he usually served for his guests, before he shrugged. It was just him in the restaurant right now, he could go hard. He reached his left hand for the vodka, on the top aisle. He touched the bottle, and pulled it out of the aisle.

Then, everything _moved_.

His eyes widened at the _familiar_ power coursing through his veins. The feeling of liquid that rushed against his blood made him panic as he realized what was happening. “SHIT, SHIT, SHIT!” He cursed as he quickly let go of the bottle. He watched as it slowly fell on the floor, and its contents spilled over the wooden surface. The wooden surface seemed to have absorbed some of the liquid, but deep inside, Archer knew that it already had been too late. He couldn’t simply reverse the process anymore, as gold essences left his left hand that he now just noticed that had been enveloped by a barely noticeable green aura. _Precise Seasoning… How, I didn’t- wait,_ he paled as he’d realized that during his nightmare, his body had automatically activated one of his Cooking Talents. And now, that Cooking Talent had touched a “food” with a Food Soul inside of it.

And that had been enough to awaken the Food Soul, or call them to him.

His panic rose as he could only stare at the spectacle before him. The summoning of a Food Soul brought memories to him that kept him rooted in place. He could feel his connection with the Food Soul before him establishing, as the golden essences and light crystalline slowly form the outline of the Food Soul. A feminine figure, an ample bosom, and wide hips were formed in a matter of seconds. Then, the hair started to shape out. Long hair, reaching the knees cascaded down, and seemed to split in two from her back. The golden light and crystalline started to crack. Once the shards fell over, silvery blue eyes stared into mellow blue ones. His breath taken away, and the young woman stood before him looked incredibly annoyed for misinterpreting it.

It seemed like his nightmare was just beginning.


End file.
